THE   PRE-EMINENCE   OF 
THE   BIBLE   AS   A    BOOK 

& 

ALFRED  TYLER  PERRY 


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THE   PRE-EMINENCE 


OF 


THE  BIBLE  AS  A  BOOK 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS 

0F  ,  ' 

Alfred  Tyler  Perry 

Professor  of  Bibliology  in  Hartford  Theological  Seminary 

February  10,  1899 


Hartford  Seminar)?  ptzte 

Publishers  and  Booksellers 
HARTFORD,    CONN. 


THE  PRE-EMINENCE  OF  THE  BIBLE  AS  A  BOOK. 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  OF  ALFRED  TYLER  PERRY, 

Professor  of  Bibliology. 

Febhuahy  10,  1899. 


In  accepting  the  appointment  as  Professor  of  Bibliology  in 
this  Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  I  appreciate  the  fact  that  I 
am  entering  upon  a  unique  office.  In  few  institutions  of  higher 
learning  is  the  librarian  given  a  voice  in  shaping  the  policy  or 
assisting  in  the  government;  in  still  fewer,  only  three  or  four, 
does  he  give- instruction  in  subjects  germane  to  his  department; 
in  no  other  theological  seminary,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  and  in 
only  two  colleges  or  universities,  is  his  department  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  a  distinct  professorship.  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  and 
encouragement  to  me  to  find  here  on  the  part  of  Trustees  and 
Faculty  so  high  an  estimate  of  the  library  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  institution,  and  necessary  to  the  highest  efficiency  of  every 
other  part. 

Though  my  title  changes  with  this  advancement,  my  duties 
remain  the  same  as  they  have  been  for  the  past  eight  years.  I 
desire,  therefore,  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  kindly  apprecia- 
tion of  my  endeavors  in  the  past  to  fulfill  these  duties,  which  is 
shown  by  this  promotion;  and  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  this 
occasion  affords  of  making  acknowledgment  of  the  help  I  have 
received  from  those  with  whom  I  have  been  associated.  Two 
assistants,  Mr.  Hawks  and  Miss  Hamilton,  have  been  with  me  all 
these  years,  and  have  labored  unremittingly  and  intelligently 
for  the  interests  of  the  library.  To  their  faithfulness  and  effi- 
ciency a  large  meed  of  praise  should  be  given.  On  the  part  of 
my  brethren  of  the  Faculty  there  have  been  uniform  kindness, 
and  willingness  to  co-operate  with  me,  and  charity  for  my  ignor- 
ance and  mistakes.  With  the  single  exception  of  not  allowing 
me  funds  enough,  a  limitation  for  which  they  have  not  been 
entirely  responsible,  the  Trustees  have  been  considerate  of  the 

(3) 


interests  I  have  had  in  charge.  To  several  members  of  the 
Board  I  am  under  special  obligations.  To  you,  sir,"  at  whose 
hands  I  to-night  have  received  my  induction  into  office,  both 
library  and  librarian  are  greatly  indebted.  An  interest  extend- 
ing over  many  years  has  found  expression  in  plans  and  labors,  in 
exertion  of  influence,  and  expenditure  of  energy,  that  our  noble 
collection  of  books  might  be  formed  and  be  fittingly  housed.  I 
would  pay  a  tribute  of  thanks  also  to  Mr.  John  Allen,  who,  as 
chairman  of  the  Building  Committee  of  the  Library,  and  as 
chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Trustees,  has  always 
been  hospitable  to  my  suggestions  and  requests,  and  has  never 
denied  me  anything  it  was  in  his  power  to  grant;  and  to  Dr.  A.  C. 
Thompson,  one  of  the  best  friends  any  librarian  ever  had. 

It  is  fitting  that  we  should  always  remember  when  we  think 
of  the  library  that  we  owe  its  beautiful  building  and  its  manifold 
treasures  chiefly  to  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Newton  Case,  whose 
monument  it  has  become;  while  the  scholarly  mind  and  broad 
vision  of  our  President  have  made  ours  the  best  theological 
library  in  America.  AVith  suitable  endowment  it  can  be  made 
the  best  in  the  world. 

I  should  shrink  from  accepting  this  position  were  the  old 
conception  of  the  office  of  a  librarian  held  here.  To  be  an  en- 
cyclopedia of  information  in  regard  to  all  branches  of  knowledge, 
or  a  thesaurus  of  quaint  and  curious  facts  dug  up  from  the  deepest 
recesses  of  musty  tomes,  to  spend  one's  time  in  following  out 
obscure  trails  in  recondite  subjects,  to  become  a  book- worm,  read- 
ing simply  for  the  sake  of  reading  without  practical  result  in  the 
real  life  of  the  world,  —  this  has  for  me  no  attractions.  It  is  to 
me  a  grateful  fact  that  our  President  has  himself  outlined  a  far 
different  ideal.  If  to  be  a  librarian  means  to  seek  to  make  the 
library  useful  by  a  careful  administration,  to  be  a  guide  to 
readers,  to  point  out  to  inquirers  where  they  may  profitably  dig 
for  themselves  in  the  investigation  of  special  subjects,  to  make 
plain  the  best  methods  of  literary  research,  to  seek  further  to 
build  up  the  library  by  such  purchases  as  will  fill  gaps  and  de- 
velop specialties,  and  so  make  and  keep  it  representative  and  com- 
plete, —  if  study  and  labor  for  these  ends  is  the  work  to  which 

*  Mr.  Jeremiah  M.  Allen,  of  the  Board  of  Trustee?. 


I  am  summoned,  then  I  am  ready  to  accept  the  charge,  although 
conscious  of  sad  deficiencies  in  qualifications. 


The  Bible  is  for  the  Christian  the  Book  of  Books.  It  is  the 
revelation  of  God  given  him  to  be  his  guide  through  this  life,  that 
he  may  attain  unto  the  life  eternal.  In  it  he  learns  of  the  divine 
plan  of  redemption,  with  it  in  his  hand  he  has  a  treasury  of 
counsel  suitable  to  every  circumstance  of  life ;  in  sorrow  it  is  his 
comfort,  in  time  of  temptation  his  refuge,  and  in  all  the  conflicts 
of  the  kingdom,  his  sword  of  the  Spirit.  As  he  reads  it  he  hears 
the  very  voice  of  God  speaking  to  him  in  warning  and  encour- 
agement, in  command  and  consolation.  For  the  theologian,  too, 
the  Bible  holds  the  same  supreme  place.  It  is  his  chief  text- 
book, and  his  final  court  of  appeal.  Here  he  finds  the  facts  of 
his  svstem,  and  the  norm  of  their  combination  and  relation. 

It  is  not  so  generally  felt  or  acknowledged  that  for  the 
bibliographer  no  less  than  for  the  Christian  and  the  theologian 
the  Bible  is  the  Book  of  Books.  On  the  occasion,  therefore,  of 
the  induction  into  office  of  a  Professor  of  Bibliology  in  this  theo- 
logical seminary,  it  may  not  be  unfitting  to  dwell  upon  the  theme, 
—  "  The  Pre-eminence  of  the  Bible  as  a  Book."  We  here  take 
no  cognizance  of  the  great  and  important  place  filled  by  the 
Bible  in  the  world  of  thought.  It  has  been  the  inspiration  of 
countless  writers.  Poets  and  philosophers,  historians  and  essay- 
ists have  received  instruction  from  its  truths,  and  their  pages  are 
lighted  up  by  the  reflected  glory  df  its  high  thoughts  and  exalted 
imagery.  It  would  be  an  inquiry  of  deepest  interest  to  trace  in 
the  literature  of  every  age  the  influence  of  this  supreme  book  of 
the  world;  but  it  is  not  to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  or  its  artistic 
form  to  the  effect  of  its  truth  or  its  style  on  the  literatures  of  the 
world  that  we  would  direct  attention. 

The  Bible  is  a  book.  It  has  been  written,  printed,  and 
bound.  As  such  it  has  a  history  in  many  respects  fascinating 
and  suggestive.  TThen  God  revealed  his  will  to  men,  he  did  it 
through  earthly  media.  He  caused  his  word  to  be  written  for 
our  instruction.  The  divine  has  .dwelt  in  human  form;  the 
eternal  verities  have  been  committed  to  the  minds  and  hands  of 
weak  and  erring  men.     The  truth  of  God  has  been  expressed 


6 

in  the  imperfect  medium  of  human  language,  has  been  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation  by  the  pen  of  the  scribe,  has 
been  embalmed  in  the  printed  page,  has  been  passed  on  from  one 
dialect  to  another,  has  been  scattered  broadcast  over  the  earth 
by  the  labors  of  men.  Since  these  instrumentalities  have  been 
thus  divinely  honored,  it  is  surely  of  importance  to  trace  the  his- 
tory of  this  divine-human  product,  that  we  may  understand  the 
limitations  put  upon  the  divine  soul  by  the  human  body  in  which 
it  dwells,  as  wTell  as  the  dignity  and  efficiency  accorded  to  the 
human  flesh  by  reason  of  the  divine  spirit  breathed  into  it. 
Evidence  is  not  lacking  that  the  divine  care  has  extended  even  to 
the  more  material  features  of  this  book.  There  has  indeed  been 
no  miraculous  intervention  to  deliver  the  Bible  from  the  chances 
of  worldly  affairs,  its  wars  and  conflagrations,  the  strife  and 
ignorance  and  fallibility  of  scribes  and  translators,  the  mold  and 
decay  of  cloister  and  crypt;  and  yet  the  God  who  gave  has  cer- 
tainly by  his  providence  protected  his  gift  from  destruction,  and 
has  preserved  its  integrity  to  the  present  hour. 

It  is  to  certain  aspects  of  this  history  that  I  ask  your  attention. 
We  pass  by  entirely,  for  the  purposes  of  this  evening's  discussion, 
any  consideration  of  the  structure  or  contents  or  doctrinal  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible;  we  shall  endeavor  to  set  forth  the  supremacy 
of  the  Bible  as  a  book  among  other  books.  In  this  we  limit  our- 
selves strictly  to  the  field  of  bibliology.  We  fix  our  eyes  on 
features  which  are  purely  external.  We  readily  grant  that  these 
are  the  less  important.  It  is  far  more  necessary  to  discover  the 
truth  of  the  Word  than  to  know  the  varied  forms  in  which  it  has 
appeared  or  the  means  by  which  it  has  been  transmitted  to  us. 
There  are  many  blessed  in  its  reading  through  the  help  of  the 
Spirit  who  are  ignorant  of  every  one  of  the  facts  to  which  we 
shall  call  attention;  they  do  not  need  to  know  them  in  order  to 
gain  the  highest  benefit  from  its  perusal.  And  yet  we  are  per- 
suaded that  our  inquiry  is  not  altogether  in  vain,  for  every 
slightest  item  regarding  this  book  is  of  value  to  those  who  esteem 
it  so  highly,  and  we  believe  that  even  from  this  external  history 
of  the  Bible  we  may  gain  lessons  of  importance  to  our  faith. 

I.  The  Bible  is  pre-eminent  among  all  the  books  of  the 
world,  even  in  its  manuscript  form.     For  many  centuries,  in 


common  with  all  other  books  of  that  early  period,  it  existed  solely 
in  this  form.  But  of  all  the  books  of  antiquity  the  Bible  is 
supreme  in  the  number  and  variety  of  its  manuscript  remains. 
The  science  of  paleography  would  be  most  seriously  handi- 
capped if  there  were  taken  from  its  resources  the  abundant 
material  thus  supplied.  The  Old  Testament  portions  furnish 
almost  the  only  specimens  of  Hebrew  chirography.  The  Xew 
Testament  portions  illustrate  better  than  any  other  single  book 
the  development  of  writing  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
The  early  versions  afford  not  only  an  opportunity  for  studying 
the  written  characters  of  those  languages,  but  the  dialects  them- 
selves. Christian  art,  too,  finds  much  of  interest  and  value  in 
the  illuminations  which  adorn  many  of  these  manuscript  Bibles. 
The  Vatican  and  Sinaitic  codices  are  not  equaled  by  any  manu- 
scripts of  any  sort  for  size  and  simple  beauty,  and  as  examples  of 
the  early  form  of  Greek  writing.  Xone  surpass  for  modest  ele- 
gance the  Golden  Gospels  in  Latin  of  the  time  of  Charlemagne, 
written  throughout  in  gold  letters  on  purple  vellum.*  Rone 
show  more  beautiful  and  instructive  miniatures  than  the  Codex 
Bossanensis.  The  characteristics  of  writing  in  different  parts  of 
Europe  are  easily  discerned  by  comparing  the  Latin  Bibles  which 
were  written  in  various  countries.  We  should  know  practically 
nothing  about  that  most  interesting  and  curious  blossoming  of 
Irish  art  in  the  twelfth  century  were  it  not  for  the  Biblical  man- 
uscripts, of  which  the  Book  of  Kells  and  the  Lindisfarne  Gospels 
are  the  most  splendid  specimens.  The  bare  statement  of  the 
number  of  manuscripts  shows  us  what  an  important  relation 
the  Bible  has  to  these  departments  of  literary  research.  There 
are  now  known  over  2,000  Hebrew  manuscripts  containing  the 
whole  or  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  oldest  of  which  is  of 
the  eleventh  century.  Of  E"ew  Testament  manuscripts  there  are 
known  112  uncial  (i.  e.,  written  in  capital  letters  throughout, 
the  oldest  form  of  writing),  and  2,429  cursive  (written  with  small 
letters  and  in  a  running  hand),  beside  1,273  lectionaries  (service 
books  containing  only  the  portions  of  Scripture  read  in  church),  f 
Of  course  very  few  of  this  large  number  are  complete.     Only 

*  This,  the  only  important  manuscript  of  the  Latin  Vulgate  in  the  United  States,  is  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Theodore  Irwin  of  Oswego,  N.  Y. 

t  Kenyon,  Our  Bible  and  the  ancient  manuscripts,  p.  120. 


8 

two  contain  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament.  Most  cover 
only  one  section  of  the  New  Testament,  Gospels,  Pauline 
Epistles,  Catholic  Epistles,  or  Apocalypse.  If  we  reduce  the 
number  as  given  by  throwing  out  those  counted  more  than  once, 
there  still  remain  nearly  3,000  manuscripts  of  the  Greek  New 
Testament,  a  mass  of  material  not  approached  in  a  remote  degree 
by  that  of  any  other  ancient  book. 

II.  The  pre-eminence  of  the  Bible  as  a  book  appears,  how- 
ever, chiefly  in  its  printed  form.  It  holds  the  unique  distinction 
of  having  been  the  first  book  printed  with  movable  type,  and  it 
has  been  printed  more  times  and  in  larger  quantities  than  any 
other  book  in  the  world;  yes,  than  any  ten  of  the  most  popular 
books  of  the  world  combined. 

1.     It  was  surely  a  noble  conception  on  the  part  of  Johann 
Gutenberg,  the  inventor  of  typography,  to  consecrate,  as  it  were, 
the  work  of  the  press  at  the  very  beginning  by  the  printing  of  the 
Word  of  God.     Who  but  an  idealist,  a  dreamer,  would  think  of 
such  an  undertaking  at  the  outset  of  a  new  enterprise?     But 
Gutenberg,  confident  of  the  success  of  his  invention,  was  not 
daunted  by  fear  of  failure.     He  did  not  count  the  cost,  evidently, 
for  he  became  bankrupt  right  speedily.     Yet  there  is  something 
very  attractive  in  the  spectacle  of  this  man,  who  after  years  of 
laborious  experimenting  and  painful  failures  had  perfected  his 
invention,  planning  to  glorify  God  by  using  it  first  of  all  for 
printing  the  Bible.     It  was  Gutenberg's  pious  feeling  and  opti- 
mistic imagination  that  gave  to  the  Bible  this  unique  glory  of 
being  the  first  book  printed  with  movable  types.     Indeed,  there 
are  two  Bibles,  both  printed,  undoubtedly,  by  Gutenberg,  which 
are  claimants  for  the  honor  of  being  the  first.     To  bo  strictly 
accurate,  neither  of  these  was  absolutely  the  first  published  fruit 
of  the  new  process.     There  is  evidence  that  a  "Donatus,"  the 
boy's  Latin  Grammar  of  the  day,  a  little  book  of  twenty  or  thirty 
pages,  was  published,  and  perhaps  printed,  before  either  Bible. 
And  certainly  there  were  several  editions  of  Letters  of  Indul- 
gence printed  in  broadside,  and,  like  legal  documents  of  to-day, 
in  blank  to  be  filled  in  with  date  and  the  names  of  purchaser  and 
dispenser.     Eighteen  copies  of  these  Letters  of  Indulgence  are 
extant,  all  bearing  date  of  14,54  and  1455.     It  is  evident,  there- 


fore,  that  Gutenberg  did  small  jobs  which  were  immediately 
remunerative,  while  he  was  busy  with  the  more  elaborate  work 
of  printing  the  Bible.  Such  an  undertaking  was  a  vast  one, 
when  we  consider  the  facilities  of  the  time.  Fonts  of  type  were 
small;  there  was  no  such  thing  as  electrotyping.  A  few  page? 
were  set  up  at  a  time  and  printed,  and  the  same  type  distributed 
and  recomposed  for  use  on  other  pages  of  the  same  book.  The 
press  was  worked  by  hand,  and  none  of  the  labor-saving  devices 
of  the  modern  printing  office  were  available.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  printing  of  the  Bible  under  these  conditions  must  have 
been  a  work  of  two  or  even  three  years. 

That  such  an  enterprise  was  undertaken  is  witness  to  the 
visionary  character  of  the  man.  That  it  was  carried  through  so 
successfully  is  evidence  of  that  persistency  which  had  given  him 
the  invention  itself.  Whether,  then,  the  first  was  the  Bible  of 
thirty-six  lines,  so  called  from  the  number  of  lines  on  a  page,  or 
the  Bible  of  forty-two  lines,  in  either  case  it  was  the  Bible  in  the 
Vulgate  Latin  version  which  was  the  first  work  of  importance,  in 
size  and  character,  to  be  printed  in  the  new  method.  The  Bible 
of  forty-two  lines,  often  called  the  Mazarine,  but  better  the 
Gutenberg  Bible,  has  heretofore  held  the  distinction  of  being 
the  first  and  is  generally  assigned  to  the  year  1455.  That  claim  is 
now  seriously  disputed  in  favor  of  the  Bible  of  thirty-six  line?. 
It  may  be  interesting  to  call  attention  to  some  characteristics  of 
these  first  printed  books.  The  Bible  of  forty-two  lines  is  a  large 
folio  in  two  volumes,  the  first  containing  321  leaves,  and  the 
second  317  leaves.  There  is  no  title  page;  space  is  left  at  the  be- 
ginning of  chapters  for  the  insertion  of  ornamental  initials  by 
the  illuminator.  The  types  were  made  in  imitation  of  the  cur- 
rent manuscript  style  and  are  a  large  Gothic  or  German  char- 
acter. The  imitation  of  the  manuscript  style  extended  even  to 
the  preparation  of  many  compound  letters  and  characters  for 
standard  abbreviations.  In  an  ordinary  book-font  of  English 
type  to-day  there  are  226  characters,  but  these  include  numerals, 
punctuation  marks,  and  a  full  set  of  small  capitals.  Of  large 
capitals  and  small  letters  there  are  only  sixty-six  different  sorts. 
In  Gutenberg's  font,  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  138  different 
characters  aside  from  the  three  punctuation  marks.  These 
extra  letters,  compound  letters,  and  abbreviated  characters  are 


10 

some  of  them  quite  difficult  to  decipher;  only  one  versed  in 
Mediaeval  manuscripts  can  read  the  book  with  ease.  On  the  first 
few  pages  of  the  Bible  the  summaries  of  the  chapters  were  printed 
in  red  ink;  in  the  rest  of  the  book  they  are  written  in,  part  in 
red  and  part  in  black.  Evidently  the  original  plan  of  having 
them  printed  had  to  be  given  up. 

The  Bible  of  thirty-six  lines  has  most  of  the  characteristics  of 
this  Bible  of  forty-two  lines,  but  it  is  printed  from  an  entirely 
different  and  much  larger  set  of  types.  It  is  a  large  folio  of  1,764 
pages,  fifteen  and  three-quarters  by  eleven  inches  in  size,  and  is 
usually  bound  in  three  volumes.  Like  the  other,  the  text  is  in 
two  columns  on  each  page.  Only  half  a  dozen  copies  of  this 
Bible  are  known  to  be  in  existence,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
edition  was  very  small.  Of  the  Gutenberg  Bible  of  forty-two 
lines  there  are  thirty  copies  known,  of  which  eight  are  printed 
upon  vellum.  Some  copies,  however,  are  quite  fragmentary. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  this  is  considered  the  first  printed  book, 
it  is  much  sought  after  by  collectors  and  has  often  brought  more 
than  its  weight  in  gold.  When  Sir  John  Thorold's  library  was 
sold  at  auction  in  1884  a  copy  of  the  forty-two  line  Bible  brought 
£3,900,  over  $19,000.  In  1897  nearly  $20,000  was  paid  for  a 
copy  from  the  Ashburnham  library  by  Bernard  Quaritch,  who 
later  priced  it  in  his  catalogue  at  £5,000.  The  Ashburnham 
price  has  only  been  exceeded  once  for  any  book,  and  that  was 
also  for  a  portion  of  the  Bible,  when  in  the  Thorold  sale  a  copy 
of  the  Fust  and  Schoeffer  Psalter  of  1457  brought  £4,950,  or 
$24,156. 

These  first  Bibles  are  not  only  interesting  because  rare,  they 
are  also  beautiful  specimens  of  the  printer's  art  which  would  do 
credit  to  any  age  or  any  printer.  This  is  one  of  the  astonishing 
things  in  regard  to  the  invention  of  typography,  that  its  first 
fruits  were  so  perfect.  Minerva-like,  it  seemed  to  spring  full- 
formed  from  the  mind  of  its  inventor.  The  first  Bibles  were 
large  folios,  cumbrous  to  handle,  and  expensive  to  manufacture. 
In  1480  the  first  quarto  Bibles  appeared  in  Venice,  and  the  next 
year  the  celebrated  Froben,  of  Basle,  the  printer  of  Erasmus, 
issued  the  first  in  octavo. 

2.  As  the  Bible  was  the  first  book  printed,  it  held  its  pre- 
eminence during  the  early  years  of  the  spread  of  the  invention. 


11 

It  is  affirmed  that  up  to  the  year  1490  "  the  Bible  exceeded  in 
amount  of  printing  all  other  books  put  together.  "*  This  is  a 
wonderful  record,  and  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  strong 
demand  on  the  part  of  readers.  During  the  preceding  centuries, 
Bibles  had  been  so  expensive  that  few  were  able  to  own  an 
•entire  copy,  and  most,  even  of  those  in  more  than  moderate  cir- 
ounistances,  contented  themselves  with  a  portion  only.  Printing 
cheapened  enormously  the  cost  of  production,  and  brought  the 
Bible  at  once  within  the  reach  of  vast  numbers  who  had  hitherto 
been  unable  to  purchase  it.  It  is  estimated  that  there  were  more 
Bibles  manufactured  in  the  first  fifty  years  of  printing  than  in 
the  three  centuries  immediately  preceding.  Printing  spread 
from  city  to  city  with  great  rapidity  in  those  first  years,  so  that 
before  the  end  of  the  year  1500,  presses  were  set  up  in  at  least 
247  ]3laces,t  and  it  is  certain  that  many  of  these  early  printers 
followed  the  example  of  Gutenberg  and  issued  the  Bible  as  one 
of  their  first  works.  In  the  first  fifty  years,  i.  e.,  to  the  end  of 
the  year  1500,  which  period  is  usually  taken  as  the  infancy  of 
printing,  all  works  published  in  these  years  being  termed  in- 
cunabula, because  printed  while  the  art  was,  so  to  speak,  in  its 
■cradle,  —  in  these  fifty  years  there  were  issued  no  less  than  1,000 
editions  of  the  Bible  or  some  of  its  parts.  The  next  century 
witnessed  no  diminution  in  this  volume,  but  rather  an  increase. 
While  the  editions  of  the  Bible  became  relatively  less,  as  com- 
pared with  the  whole  mass  of  printed  matter,  they  were  abso- 
lutely very  much  more  numerous.  The  influence  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  printed  Bible  upon  the  spread  of  the  Reformation  has 
often  been  remarked.  Notice  the  provision  for  this  desirable 
end.  There  were  no  less  than  160  editions  of  the  Latin  Bible 
before  1517;  J  and  Luther's  radical  stand  in  appeal  from  the 
Pope  to  the  Word  seems  to  have  stimulated  the  reading  of  the 
Bible,  for  before  1550  there  were  174  more  editions  of  the  whole 
Bible  in  Latin,  to  say  nothing  of  167  of  the  Latin  New  Testa- 
ment printed  in  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
nearly  as  many  more  of  separate  New  Testament  books. 
Twentv-seven  editions  of  Erasmus'  Latin  Testament  issued  in 


*  Stevens,  The  Bible  in  the  Caxton  Exhibition,  London,  1878,  p.  25. 
+  Reichhart,  Beitrage  zur  Incunabelnkunde,  Leipzig,  1895. 

+  These  and  the  following  figures  have  been  chiefly  derived  from  a  collation  of  Haine,  L. 
Long-Maech,  and  Copinger. 


12 

the  seven  years  1518-1524  were  accompanied  by  thirty-eight 
editions  of  his  paraphrase  (either  the  New  Testament  or  its 
separate  books)  in  the  eight  years  1517-1524.  And  Bible  read- 
ing was  not  confined  to  the  Latin  language,  universally  as  that 
was  known.  For  the  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew  was  printed  in 
1488,  the  Bible  in  German  in  1466,  in  Italian  in  1471,  and  the 
New  Testament  in  French  in  the  same  year.  There  were  nearly 
fifty  (forty-eight)  editions  of  the  whole  Bible  in  the  vernaculars 
of  Europe  before  the  Reformation,  to  say  nothing  of  those  con- 
taining only  the  New  Testament  or  smaller  portions.  Luther's 
New  Testament  in  German  was  issued  in  1522,  and  editions 
followed  in  rapid  succession  in  many  cities  of  Germany.  "  Hans 
Luft  alone  printed  100,000  copies  on  his  press  at  Wittenberg."* 
The  sword  of  the  Spirit  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and 
it  proved  a  weapon  mighty  enough  to  overthrow  the  power  of 
the  Papacy  in  half  of  Europe. 

Notwithstanding  this  evidence  of  an  extensive  circulation  of 
the  Scriptures  in  the  Reformation  time,  we  must  remember  that 
its  high  price  still  limited  its  widest  distribution.  Cheap  as 
printed  Bibles  were  in  comparison  with  manuscripts,  judged  by 
modern  standards  they  were  very  expensive.  Luther's  New 
Testament  sold  for  eleven  and  one-half  guilders,  equal  to  about 
$5.     Others  were  correspondingly  costly. 

4.  The  forms  in  which  the  Bible  was  issued  indicate  the 
•lomand  of  the  time.  Churches  needed  pulpit  Bibles,  and  the 
great  folios  supplied  that  need.  Editions  containing  only  the 
church  lessons,  or  the  Psalter,  were  also  issued  in  great  numbers, 
the  number  of  Psalters  exceediug  that  of  New  Testaments.  For 
the  benefit  of  the  more  ignorant  priests  there  were  furnished 
editions  with  glosses,  as  well  as  some  of  the  sermons  mo4  popular 
in  those  days.  Handier  editions  in  octavo  and  even  smaller  sizes 
gave  to  students  and  the  public  generally  what  best  suited  their 
convenience. 

5.  From  the  beginning  to  the  present  time  the  Bible  lias 
held  its  pre-eminence  as  a  printed  book.  No  one  will  ever  know 
how  many  editions  of  it  have  been  issued,  for  the  number  is 
almost  beyond  computation,  and  for  countless  editions  there  is 
no  record.     The  famous  bibliographer   and    bookseller,    Henry 

*  Schaff,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  Rev.  Ed.,  Vol.  VI,  501. 


13 

Stevens,  says:  "  "We  have  been  endeavoring  for  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century  or  more  to  compile  as  complete  a  list  of  printed 
Bibles  and  parts  of  Bibles  as  possible  from  the  earliest  period  to 
the  present  time,  and  the  remarkable  result  is  a  table  of  some 
30,000  titles,  representing  about  35,000  volumes.""  That  was 
twenty  years  ago.  .Bibles  have  been  issued  in  all  styles  of  type, 
in  all  grades  of  workmanship,  in  all  degrees  of  expense,  in  all 
measures  of  accuracy.  The  volume  of  editions  and  copies  now 
pouring  from  the  press  is  greater  than  ever  before,  and  exceeds 
many  fold  that  of  any  other  single  book. 

6.  The  printing  of  the  Bible  has  furnished  occasion  for 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  feats  of  typography.  At  the  time 
of  the  Caxton  Exhibition  in  London  in  1877  an  edition  of  one 
hundred  copies  was  printed  from  type  in  Oxford,  and  bound  in 
London,  all  in  the  space  of  twelve  hours.  When  the  Revised 
Version  of  the  English  Xew  Testament  appeared  in  1881,  orders 
for  a  million  copies  were  received  before  publication  by  the 
Oxford  Press  alone,  and  perhaps  an  equal  number  was  ordered 
from  the  Cambridge  Press.  The  sale  of  the  Revised  Testament 
opened  in  the  United  States  on  May  20th,  amid  scenes  absolutely 
unparalleled  in  the  book  trade  since  the  beginning  of  the  world. 
It  is  said  that  33,000  copies  were  sold  on  that  day  in  New  York,  t 
They  were  hawked  about  the  streets  by  newsboys  and  fakirs,  and 
sold  even  under  the  shadow  of  the  Stock  Exchange.  Two 
Chicago  papers,  the  Tribune  and  Times,  had  a  large  part  of  the 
Xew  Testament  telegraphed  from  Xew  York  and  sent  it  to  their 
readers  complete  within  two  days  of  publication.  The  Tribune 
employed  for  the  purpose  ninety-two  compositors  and  five  cor- 
rectors, and  the  whole  work  was  completed  in  twelve  hours. 
The  Times  had  the  four  Gospels,  the  Acts,  and  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  telegraphed,  and  set  up  the  remainder  from  a  copy  that 
was  forwarded  by  rail.  The  portion  telegraphed  contains  about 
118,000  words  and  constitutes  the  longest  despatch  ever  sent  over 
the  wires.  A  large  number  of  papers  followed  the  example  of 
these  in  Chicago  and  sent  the  Xew  Testament  to  their  readers  as 
a  supplement  to  their  regular  issues.  Besides  this  extensive 
newspaper  circulation,  there  were  as  many  as  thirty  editions 

*  Stevens,  Bible  in  The  Caxton  Exhibition,  p.  27. 

t  Schaff,  Companion  to  the  Greek  Testament.    N.  T.,  1883,  p.  403  ff. 


14 

issued  in  America  before  the  close  of  the  year.  Who,  in  the 
light  of  these  facts,  can  doubt  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Bible 
among  all  books.     Of  no  other  could  such  things  be  possible. 

7.  In  connection  with  the  printed  Bible  we  may  notice 
another  and  a  unique  form  in  which  the  Bible  has  appeared. 
Very  few  books  have  ever  been  printed  in  polyglot  form,  i.  e. 
in  many  languages  in  the  same  volume;  but  there  are  many 
examples  of  this  in  the  case  of  the  Bible.  The  Greek  Old  Testa- 
ment and  New  Testament  were  neither  of  them  printed  until 
Cardinal  Ximines  began  his  great  undertaking  of  issuing  the 
whole  Bible  in  the  original  languages  with  the  Greek  version 
of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Vulgate  Latin  of  the  whole.  This 
magnificent  work  was  undertaken  in  order  to  revive  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  was  carried  out  in  a  most  lavish  manner. 
The  best  scholars  that  could  be  obtained  were  employed  at  high 
salaries.  The  cost  of  the  work  was  about  $150,000,  not  one- 
twelfth  of  which  sum  could  have  been  received  from  the  sale  if 
every  copy  had  found  a  purchaser.  Only  600  were  printed. 
The  Old  Testament  is  given  in  three  languages  in  parallel 
columns,  the  Latin  occupying  the  central  place  of  honor  between 
the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek,  this  arrangement  signifying,  as  the 
Cardinal  states  in  his  Prolegomena,  that  Christ,  i.  e.,  the  Roman 
or  Latin  Church,  was  crucified  between  two  robbers,  i.  e.,  the 
Jewish  Synagogue,  and  the  schismatical  Greek  Church.  The 
New  Testament  is  given  only  in  Greek  and  Latin.  The  sixth 
and  last  volume  is  filled  with  lexicons  and  indices.  Begun  in 
1502,  the  New  Testament  volume  was  printed  in  1514,  the  last  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  1517,  but  the  approval  of  the  Pope  was  not 
given  until  1520,  and  even  then  there  was  some  delay,  so  that 
the  work  was  not  actually  put  on  the  market  until  1522.  The 
worthy  Cardinal  did  not  live  to  see  the  consummation  of  his  de- 
sire, although  shortly  before  his  death  there  was  brought  to  him 
the  last  volume  as  it  came  from  the  press. 

The  example  thus  set  was  followed  many  times  in  the  next 
200  years.  The  Polyglot  of  Ximines  called  the  Complutensian 
from  its  place  of  publication  had  already  become  so  rare  by  the 
middle  of  the  century  that  Plantin,  the  celebrated  printer  of 
Antwerp,  determined  upon  a  reprint  with  additions.  He  secured 
the  recommendation  of  Cardinal  Spinosa,  through  whom  he  re- 


15 

ceived  the  aid  of  Philip  II  of  Spain.  Philip  not  only  furnished 
the  means  for  the  publication,  but  also  sent  one  of  the  most 
learned  priests  of  Spain,  Arias  Montanus,  to  Antwerp  to  superin- 
tend the  whole  work.  The  first  four  volumes  contain  the  Old 
Testament.  Besides  the  Hebrew  text  there  are  also  the  LXX 
Greek,  the  Vulgate  Latin,  and  the  Targums  in  Chaldee  or 
Aramaic.  Volume  5  contains  the  New  Testament  in  Greek, 
Latin,  and  Syriac.  Three  more  volumes  contain  dictionaries  and 
grammars  of  the  various  languages,  sundry  indexes,  a  treatise  on 
Sacred  Antiquities,  and  a  complete  version  of  the  Bible  into 
Latin  by  Sanctes  Pagninus,  which  was  improved  by  Montanus. 
Of  this  splendid  work,  issued  in  1569-72,  only  500  copies  were 
printed,  and  the  greater  part  of  these  were  lost  at  sea  while  being 
transported  to  Spain.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  for  these  two 
costly  editions  of  the  Bible  in  polyglot  form,  one  of  which,  the 
Complutensian,  contains  the  first  printed  Greek  Bible,  we  are 
indebted  to  Spain,  to  two  Cardinals  of  the  Roman  Church,  and 
to  that  cruel  tyrant  Philip  II. 

The  Antwerp  Polyglot  was  almost  immediately  a  rare  book 
on  account  of  the  loss  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  edition.  Prop- 
osition was  made  to  reprint  it  by  another  Cardinal  (what  holy 
emulation  in  the  sacred  college  in  so  noble  a  cause).  This  time 
it  was  a  Frenchman,  Cardinal  DuPerron.  Some  work  had  been 
done  when  the  Cardinal  died,  and  finally  LeJay,  attorney  of 
Parliament,  undertook  to  carry  it  through.  Printing  began  in 
1628,  but  the  work  was  not  completed  until  1645.  Parts  1-4 
contain  the  Old  Testament  of  the  Antwerp  Polyglot,  i.  e.,  in 
Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Greek,  and  Latin;  part  5  has  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  Greek,  Latin,  Syriac,  and  Arabic  in  two  volumes;  part 
6  contains  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  here  printed  for  the  first 
time,  and  also  the  Samaritan,  Arabic,  and  Syriac  versions  of  the 
same,  with  a  Latin  translation  of  each ;  parts  7-9  contain  the  rest 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  Arabic  and  Syriac.  LeJay  invested 
the  whole  of  his  property  in  the  production  of  this  truly  magnifi- 
cent work,  but  its  high  price  and  unwieldly  size  deterred  many 
would-be  purchasers,  the  appearance  of  the  London  Polyglot 
drove  it  out  of  the  market,  and  LeJay  was  utterly  ruined  and 
compelled  to  dispose  of  the  last  of  the  edition  as  waste  paper.  No 
one  can  look  at  the  ten  stupendous  volumes  of  this  edition  without 


16 

admiring  the  audacity  that  planned  so  great  an  undertaking. 
And  he  cannot  behold  the  wide  margins,  the  fine  press  work,  and 
the  generally  sumptuous  air  of  the  book  without  regretting  that 
so  splendid  a  monument  of  the  press,  so  noble  an  edition  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  should  have  brought  such  disaster  to  its  pro- 
jector. It  was  a  repetition  of  the  experience  of  Gutenberg. 
The  enterprise  was  too  vast  for  the  resources  of  the  promoter,  and 
the  result  too  expensive  for  the  purse  of  the  public. 

With  a  better  conception  of  the  possibilities  of  such  work, 
as  well  as  a  keener  sense  of  the  value  of  good  scholarship,  did 
Bishop  Walton  project  his  Polyglot  published  in  London  in 
1657-61.  Less  magnificent  than  those  which  had  preceded,  it 
was  far  more  valuable.  Bishop  Walton  was  a  Royalist  and  lost 
his  preferment  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  During  his  retire- 
ment he  devoted  himself  to  this  work.  It  was  issued  under  the 
patronage  of  Cromwell,  who  allowed  the  paper  for  it  to  be  im- 
ported free  of  duty.  He  is  thanked  in  the  preface  for  his  aid; 
but  when  Charles  II  was  restored,  this  acknowledgment  was 
withdrawn  and  a  dedication  to  the  King  inserted,  so  that  there 
are  so  called  Republican  and  Royal  copies.  The  six  folio 
volumes  contain  the  Bible  in  nine  languages,  although  no  one 
book  appears  in  so  many.  A  feature  of  great  value  is  the  mass 
of  various  readings  which  occupies  a  part  of  the  sixth  volume. 
This  was  a  Protestant  work,  and  accordingly  soon  after  its  publi- 
cation it  was  put  on  the  Index  Prohibitorum  by  Pope  Alexander 
YII.  These  four  editions  are  called  the  great  polyglots  and  are 
a  unique  monument  of  printing.*  They  are  by  no  means  the 
only  representatives  of  this  style  of  printing  the  Bible.  Prom 
the  Polyglot  of  Hutter,  in  1599,  down  to  the  latest  issues  of  the 
English  and  German  press,  there  have  been  many  polyglot 
Bibles,  besides  the  vast  number  of  diglot  or  bi-lingual  editions, 
with  Latin  or  some  modern  tongue  and  another  less  well  known, 
from  the  Greek-Latin  Psalter  of  1481,  or  the  Latin-German  New 
Testament  of  1509,  to  the  latest  issue  of  the  Bible  Society,  which 
prints  the  New  Testament  in  some  African  or  Indian  language 
together  with  the  English.  No  other  book  has  ever  received 
such  treatment,  and  the  Bible  in  this  respect  also  is  seen  to  be 
the  Book  of  Books. 


*  Fine  copies  of  these  four  rare  editions  are  to  be  found  in  the  Seminary  Library. 


17 

III.  The  pre-eminence  of  the  Bible  as  a  book  is  shown  still 
further  in  its  wide  dissemination,  in  its  extensive  translation. 

1.  The  Bible  was  written  originally  in  three  languages,  the 
Old  Testament  in  Hebrew,  with  the  exception  of  portions  of  the 
books  of  Ezra  and  Daniel,  which  are  in  Aramaic,  and  the  New 
Testament  in  Greek.  Before  the  Christian  era  the  Jews  had 
made  a  translation  of  their  Scriptures  into  Greek,  which  was 
more  widely  understood  than  any  other  language  of  antiquity, 
and  also  into  the  Samaritan,  which  is  a  form  of  Aramaic.  There 
were  thus  three  languages  that  had  been  blessed  with  the  Revela- 
tion of  God  before  the  coming  of  Christ.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  Church  there  was  not  at  once  need  of  further 
translation,  for  wherever  the  Apostles  went  they  found  Greek- 
speaking  people.  This  was  the  universal  language  of  trade,  and 
in  the  first  narrow  circle  of  the  Apostolic  labors  it  proved  a  suffi- 
cient medium  of  communication.  Moreover,  so  long  as  there 
were  personal  witnesses  of  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of 
Christ,  there  was  not  the  same  necessitv  for  a  written  word. 
Only  gradually  were  the  Christian  Scriptures  collected  and 
circulated  with  authority.  But  after  the  first  century  the  circle 
of  Christian  activity  widened,  and  new  populations  were  reached 
who  were  not  so  familiar  with  Greek.  Then  the  prophecy  con- 
tained in  the  gift  of  tongues  at  Pentecost  began  to  reach  its  larger 
fulfilment  in  the  gift  to  all  peoples  of  the  written  word  in  their 
own  languages  in  which  they  were  born. 

The  beginning  of  Bible  translation  had  apparently  a  dog- 
matic and  a  liturgical  motive.  The  desire  for  authoritative 
statements  of  the  facts  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  and  the  doctrines  of 
the  Christian  faith,  which  led  to  the  original  composition  of 
Gospels  and  Epistles,  led  also  to  their  translation  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  could  not  understand  the  original  Greek.  The 
necessities  of  the  church  service  gave  an  impulse  in  the  same 
direction.  The  lessons  read  in  the  services,  if  they  were  to  be 
understood  by  the  people,  must  be  in  the  language  of  the  people, 
and  so  the  Bible  was  translated  for  the  purpose.  The  number 
of  manuscript  lectionaries  in  many  of  the  early  versions  is  a  proof 
of  this  point.  Out  of  this  doctrinal  and  liturgical  necessity  then 
arose  the  first  versions  of  the  Bible  into  the  vernacular. 

2.     The  field  of  the  Church  in  the  first  six  centuries  was  the 


18 

Roman  Empire,  and  it  is  interesting  to  notice  how  largely  the 
languages  of  the  empire  received  the  Bible  during  that  period. 
First  in  order  of  time,  came  probably  the  Syriac,  in  the  second 
century.  This  was  the  language  of  Palestine  and  the  neighbor- 
ing regions;  and  we  have  knowledge  of  four  and  possibly  five 
versions  into  this  tongue  before  the  year  616,  besides  a  version 
into  the  Judean  dialect  of  the  Syriac,  made  in  the  fifth  century. 
Closely  following  the  Syriac  came  versions  into  the  five  dialects 
of  Egypt  in  the  second  and  third  centuries,  and  many  versions 
into  Latin,  made  in  North  Africa,  in  Italy,  and  in  Gaul,  at  about 
the  same  time.  These  latter  were  superseded  by  the  Latin 
version  of  Jerome  in  the  fourth  century,  which  has  since  been 
known  as  the  Vulgate.  In  this  same  early  period  of  the  Church 
the  Bible,  or  parts  of  it,  was  translated  into  Gothic,  Armenian, 
Ethiopic,  and  Georgic.  So  the  circle  of  the  Roman  world  was 
completed.  As  these  versions  were,  in  the  first  instance,  made 
to  serve  an  ecclesiastical  purpose,  so  in  turn  they  became  the 
means  of  isolating  the  branches  of  the  Church  using  them  from 
each  other,  and  from  the  mother  church.  They  played  no  small 
part  in  the  erection  of  the  independent  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ments of  the  East  as  over  against  the  great  Roman  Church,  which 
in  those  centuries  was  steadily  assuming  prerogatives  of  dominion 
over  all  divisions  of  the  empire.  Who  can  consider  the  fact 
that  every  one  of  the  early  divisions  of  the  Church  had  its  own 
vernacular  Bible  without  realizing  that  the  schism  which  rent 
them  from  the  main  body  was  nourished  by  that  version  in  their 
own  tongue,  which  was  to  them  an  independent  source  of  author- 
ity and  prevented  their  weak  yielding  to  a  centralized  hierarchy. 
3.  The  next  period  of  church  history  includes  the  years 
from  600  to  1400,  the  so-called  Middle  Ages.  In  this  period  the 
field  of  the  Church  was  chiefly  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  her 
work  was  the  conquest  of  the  tribes  of  the  North  and  the  hordes 
of  barbarians  who  swept  into  Europe  from  the  far  East.  "Where 
the  Church  went,  there  went  also  the  Bible.  Missionaries  of 
that  day,  as  of  this,  were  forward  in  translating  the  Bible  for  the 
benefit  of  their  converts,  and  no  less  than  twenty-two  versions 
of  the  Scriptures  appeared  in  this  period,  including  practically 
all  the  languages  of  Europe,  those  which  were  formed  by  the 
dialectic  modification  of  the  Latin,  like  Italian,  French,  Spanish, 


19 

and  the  transitional  Romance,  as  well  as  the  Teutonic  dialects  of 
the  north,  German,  Swedish,  Dutch,' Anglo-Saxon,  English,  with 
the  Celtic  tongues,  Erse  and  Kymrish,  the  Slavonic,  and  its 
kindred  Bohemian  and  Polish;  while  far  to  the  east  appeared 
versions  in  Persic  and  Tartar.  In  not  all  of  these  languages  was 
the  whole  Bible  translated;  in  some  only  a  small  part,  but  still 
it  is  true  that  before  the  Reformation,  and  before  the  invention 
of  printing,  the  peoples  of  Europe  and  Western  Asia  and  North- 
ern Africa  were  supplied  with  the  Scriptures  in  their  own 
languages.  We  may  say  what  we  will  about  the  ignorance  of 
the  masses  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  practice  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  keeping  the  Bible  from  the  laity,  which  charges  are 
not  without  truth,  and  yet  these  monuments  of  Bible  translation 
are  evidence  of  a  spirit  that  was  true,  and  a  life  that  was  vigorous, 
and  a  method  that  was  right.  Where  the  gospel  messenger  went 
there  he  carried  the  Word  of  God  as  a  torch,  and  it  lightened 
many  a  dark  corner  of  the  world. 

4.  In  the  Reformation  period,  from  1400  to  1600,  there 
were  versions  prepared  in  twelve  different  languages  and  dia- 
lects, all  located  in  Europe,  making  more  complete  the  work  of 
the  preceding  centuries. 

5.  In  the  next  period,  one  of  dogmatic  controversy  and  of 
spiritual  coldness  and  inactivity,  from  1600  to  1800,  there  are 
noticed  seventeen  new  dialects  blessed  with  versions,  ten  of  them 
in  Europe;  and  we  find  also  the  first  fruits  of  the  new  missionary 
activity  in  John  Eliot's  Bible  in  the  Algonquin  Indian  tongue, 
which  has  been  said  to  be  the  "  first  case  in  history  of  the  trans- 
lation and  printing  of  the  entire  Bible  in  a  new  language  as  a 
means  of  evangelization."*  With  this  belong  Ziegenbalg's 
Tamil  version  (1714),  and  versions  of  Dutch  missionaries  in  Eor- 
mosan  (1661),  and  Malay  (1610?),  and  Sinhali  (1739). 

6.  The  present  century,  however,  will  always  be  known  as 
the  great  Bible  translating  century,  as  it  is  the  great  missionary 
century  of  the  Christian  Church.  Indeed,  the  two  movements 
have  sprung  from  the  same  motives,  and  have  gone  hand  in  hand. 
Almost  the  first  work  of  the  modern  missionarv  when  he  eoes 
among  a  new  people,  so  soon  as  he  has  learned  the  language,  is  to 

*  Dr.  E.  W.  Gilman  in  Report  of  the  Centenary  Conference  on  Missions,  1883.    Vol.  II,  287. 


20 

begin  translating  the  Bible.  His  first  attempts  are  likely  to  be 
very  crude,  owing  to  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  language,  but 
as  greater  facility  is  gained  in  the  native  speech,  and  particularly 
as  some  native  converts  are  trained  in  the  work  of  assistance, 
revisions  are  made  and  after  a  time  a  standard  version  is  finished. 
Often  the  first  publication  is  of  a  single  Gospel  or  Epistle  in  order 
to  test  the  efficiency  of  the'  version.  So,  in  the  Hawaiian,  the 
Gospel  of  Luke  was  published  in  1827,  while  the  New  Testament 
was  not  ready  until  1S36,  and  the  whole  Bible  not  until  1839. 

Since  the  year  1800,  versions  of  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the 
Bible  have  been  made  in  385  languages  and  dialects,  and  with 
every  year  the  number  is  increased.  Doubtless  on  many  a  mis- 
sionary's table  there  lie  to-day  tentative  experiments  in  Bible 
translation,  which  in  a  few  years  will  be  published  in  London 
or  New  York  and  then  be  carried  back  to  bless  the  native  races 
for  which  they  have  been  prepared.  Let  one  stand  before  the 
large  case  in  the  Museum  of  this  Seminary  and  look  at  the  240 
versions  there  displayed,  and  he  must  gain  a  new  sense  of  the 
amount  of  learning  and  consecrated  labor  that  has  gone  into  this 
work  of  translation.  In  many  cases  the  missionary  finds  a  lan- 
guage without  a  literature  or  even  without  writing.  It  is  neces- 
sary, frequently,  to  re-create  the  language  by  the  infusion  of 
new  words,  to  reduce  the  spoken  words  to  writing,  and  even  to 
invent  an  alphabet  in  which  they  may  be  written,  as  Ulfilas  did 
for  the  Goths,  and  the  native  Guess  for  the  Cherokee  tribe  of 
Indians.  As  one  looks  at  that  case  of  specimens  let  him  remem- 
ber that  what  are  there  shown  represent  only  one-half  of  the 
large  number  that  have  been  made  by  the  messengers  of  Christ 
in  all  the  centuries.  The  work  of  the  present  century  appears 
the  more  noteworthy  when  we  recall  the  fact  that  up  to  the 
year  1800  there  were  only  sixty-six  languages  and  dialects  in 
which,  so  far  as  we  know,  any  portion  of  the  Scriptures  had  been 
translated,  while  during  this  century  the  number  has  swelled  to 
451.  This,  let  it  be  noted,  is  the  number  of  distinct  lan- 
guages or  mutually  unintelligible  dialects  into  which  some  por- 
tion of  the  Bible  has  been  translated.  No  account  is  made  of 
the  different  versions  or  revisions  in  a  single  language,  nor  even 
of  the  publication  of  the  same  version  in  many  different  forms; 


•21 

as  for  example,  the  Armenian  is  printed  not  only  in  the  Arme- 
nian, but  also  in  the  Arabic  and  the  Greek  characters.  So  the 
German  and  Spanish  versions  are  printed  in  Hebrew  letters  for 
the  benefit  of  German  and  Spanish  Jews  who  know  the  vernacu- 
lar language,  but  have  learned  to  read  only  the  Hebrew  alphabet. 
Many  languages  having  characters  of  their  own,  like  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese,  are  being  printed  also  in  the  Roman  alphabet. 
These  varied  forms,  interesting  as  they  are,  do  not  make  distinct 
languages  and  are  not  considered  in  our  enumeration. 

Of  course,  in  a  majority  of  these  languages  only  a  portion, 
often  only  a  small  portion,  of  the  Bible  has  been  translated,  and 
there  are  still  a  large  number  of  languages  untouched,  so  that 
there  yet  remains  work  enough  for  the  brain  and  hand  of  the 
twentieth  century.  It  is  estimated  that  the  total  number  of 
languages  and  dialects  spoken  by  the  more  than  1,400  millions  of 
the  population  of  the  globe  is  at  least  2,000.  In,  comparison  with 
this,  451  seems  a  very  small  number,  but  we  must  remem- 
ber that  these  451  languages  represent  1,200  millions  of 
people,  while  the  remaining  1,500  languages  are  spoken  by  only 
200  millions.  Moreover,  many  of  these  tongues  are  fast  disap- 
pearing; the  great  conquering  languages  will  more  and  more 
dominate  the  world,  and  in  the  meanwhile  the  goal  is  being  ever 
more  nearly  approached  of  giving  the  entire  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  to  every  race  under  the  whole  expanse 
of  heaven  in  its  own  language. 

7.  This  practice  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  great  non- 
Christian  religions,  whose  sacred  books  are  not  translated.  The 
Koran  is  read  in  Arabic  even  where  that  language  is  not  under- 
stood. Christian  scholars  are  responsible  for  its  translation  into 
many  tongues,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  Yedas  and  the  Avesta. 
The  Buddhist  Scriptures  have  been  imported  into  Japan  and 
copied  there  for  centuries,  but  no  Japanese  version  has  been 
made. 

This  immense  mass  of  Bible  translation  is  furthermore  almost 
exclusively  the  work  of  the  Protestant  churches.  The  Roman 
Church  in  clinging  to  the  Latin  Vulgate  in  a  dead  language  is 
but  imitating  the  heathen  example.  To  be  sure,  most  of  the 
versions  before  1600  were  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  Roman 


22 

Church.  And  since  that  time  there  have  been  many  versions 
into  the  vernacular  made  by  those  in  fellowship  with  that  body. 
But  in  nearly  every  case  these  recent  versions  have  been  in  lan- 
guages already  supplied  with  Protestant  versions,  and  they  were 
made  in  order  to  offset  and  destroy  the  influence  those  were 
exerting  on  the  people.  Her  theory  that  the  Church  is  the  sole 
custodian  and  interpreter  of  the  truth  has  led  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  to  insist  upon  her  own  versions  and  her  own  editions. 
Xo  version  is  to  be  used  unless  it  conforms  to  the  Vulgate,  and 
all  editions  of  the  Vulgate  must  agree  with  that  of  Clement  VIII 
printed  at  Rome  in  1592. 

This  Protestant  policy  of  giving  the  Bible  at  once  to  new 
peoples,  and  using  the  Scriptures  as  an  instrument  in  evangelism 
is  amply  justified  by  the  history  of  missions.  We  cite  an  illus- 
tration or  two.*  In  the  Congo  region  of  Africa  the  Portuguese 
had  control  for  200  years  after  1500.  Under  their  protection 
the  Romish  priests  evangelized  the  country.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  were  baptized;  masses  and  penances,  crucifixes  and 
confessionals,  were  abundant;  but  there  was  no  version  of  the 
Xew  Testament  and  no  attempt  to  instruct  the  people  in  the 
word.  When  the  Portuguese  power  fell  and  the  priests  were 
compelled  to  withdraw,  the  whole  people  lapsed  at  once,  and  soon 
not  a  trace  of  Christianity  remained. 

A  similar  thing  happened  in  Japan.  The  once  flourishing 
church  subjected  to  persecution,  after  a  brave  resistance,  suc- 
cumbed ;  it  had  no  vernacular  Bible  to  feed  its  life. 

Contrast  with  these  the  case  of  Madagascar.  In  1834  the 
first  converts  were  baptized  after  eleven  years  of  effort;  in  two 
years  the  missionaries  were  forced  to  leave,  but  they  left  behind 
5,000  copies  of  the  Bible  in  the  native  tongue.  In  spite  of  the 
fiercest  persecution  of  the  heathen  government,  in  spite  of  the 
severest  penalties  visited  upon  those  who  read  the  Bible,  in  spite 
of  the  martyrdom  of  thousands  in  the  next  twenty-five  years,  that 
church,  nourished  by  the  living  stream  of  God's  word,  remained 
steadfast  and  even  increased  in  membership  from  200  to  1,000. 
History  speaks  with  no  uncertain  voice  on  this  subject.  l\o 
mission  work  is  effective  and  permanent  that  does  not  give  the 

*  Cf.  Dr.  E.  W.  Oilman,  in  Report  of  the  Centenary  Conference  on  Missions,  London,  1888. 
Vol.11,  288. 


23 

Bible  to  the  people.  The  failure  of  the  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sions in  China,  in  Japan,  in  India,  and  in  Xorth  America  is  evi- 
dence of  this.  Their  missionaries  were  as  devoted  and  as 
persistent  and  as  learned  as  those  of  Protestant  Churches,  but 
their  work  has  disappeared  from  the  sight  of  men. 

Xot  only  has  the  Bible  thus  proved  a  most  valuable  ally  to 
the  missionary ;  it  has  often  become  a  missionary  itself,  and  many 
a  congregation  has  been  gathered  and  instructed  in  the  truth 
through  the  medium  of  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures.  A  copy  of  the 
Bible  bought  by  a  native  and  carried  back  to  his  country  home  is 
the  means  of  the  conversion  of  a  whole  village  in  Brazil.  A  copy 
found  in  a  cast-off  garment  leads  numbers  in  a  Chinese  village 
into  the  truth.  Similar  stories  might  be  told  of  every  quarter  of 
the  globe.  The  Word  of  God  is  its  own  witness,  and  in  its 
printed  form  becomes  a  messenger  of  the  gospel. 

8.  So  vast  has  this  work  of  issuing  the  Bible  become,  so 
important  is  it  felt  to  be  as  a  means  of  evangelization,  that  large 
societies  have  been  formed  which  devote  themselves  to  this  one 
thing,  the  printing  and  circulation  of  the  Word.  Missionary  so- 
cieties often  add  this  to  other  phases  of  their  work,  but  during 
the  last  century  the  Bible  societies  have  been  the  chief  agencies 
in  this  enterprise.  Always  co-operating  with  the  missionary 
societies,  they  have  also  supplemented  their  work,  and  their  col- 
porters  have  gone  into  many  regions  yet  unreached  by  distinc- 
tively missionary  labor.  Since  1804,  when  the  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society  was  organized,  the  first  in  time  as  it  has  always 
been  the  greatest  in  achievement  of  all  such  agencies,  there  have 
been  no  less  than  eighty  Bible  societies  formed,  besides  number- 
less auxiliaries  of  these.  Our  own  American  Bible  Society, 
organized  in  1816,  is  second  in  size  and  importance  and  efficiency. 
It  is  encouraging  to  notice  that  with  very  few  exceptions  these  are 
all  undenominational  agencies.  Although  Christian  people 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  unite  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen,  for  the  most  part  they  have  been  able  to 
work  together  in  the  printing  and  circulation  of  translations  of 
the  Scriptures.  In  this,  again,  the  Bible  is  raised  aloft  above 
every  other  book.  Of  no  other  can  it  be  said  that  large,  perma- 
nent publishing  houses  have  been  established  for  the  express 


24 

purpose  of  issuing  them.  And  few,  if  any,  publishing  houses  of 
any  sort  equal  in  amount  of  business  the  nearly  four  million 
copies  issued  annually  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 

IV.  There  are  many  other  features  connected  with  the 
printing  and  circulation  of  the  Bible  which  it  would  be  interest- 
ing to  dwell  upon  if  there  were  time. 

1.  We  should  like  to  describe  the  people's  Bibles  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  At  that  period  of  history 
there  were  few  of  the  common  people  who  could  read  or  write, 
and  even  many  of  the  priests  could  not  read  their  Bibles.  So, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  preaching  friars,  as  a  means  of  helping 
them  to  expound  the  Gospel  message,  and  also  to  teach  the  people 
the  Bible  truth  through  the  eye  as  well  as  the  ear,  there  were 
issued  a  large  variety  of  books  dealing  with  the  Bible  story  in  one 
form  or  another.  Usually  the  life  of  Christ  was  taken  for  a 
basis.  One  page  would  contain  a  picture  of  some  scene  in  his 
life  with  a  few  words  of  explanation.  The  opposite  page  would 
contain  some  illustration  of  that  scene,  or  typical  representation  of 
it,  drawn  from  some  other  part  of  Scripture.  For  example,  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  were  illustrated  from  the  storv  of 
Jonah.  These  books  were  called  block-books,  because  each  page 
was  printed  from  a  single  engraved  block  of  wood.  There  were 
more  than  a  score  of  such  printed  in  numberless  editions  in  the 
fifty  years  before  the  invention  of  typography.  So  popular  were 
they  that  editions  with  type-set  descriptions  continued  to  appear 
even  to  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  predominantly 
religious  character  of  these  and  other  early  books  is  an  indication 
of  the  fact  that  learning  was  chiefly  confined  to  ecclesiastics,  and 
that  the  knight  and  the  serf  equally  found  their  pleasure  in  other 
than  literary  ways. 

2.  The  student  of  the  early  versions  into  European  lan- 
guages is  struck  by  the  fact  that  in  many  instances  the  earliest 
form  of  the  vernacular  Bible  was  poetical.  We  must  remember 
that  these  nations  were  at  this  time  Christian.  The  people  were 
familiar  with  the  truth  of  the  Bible;  but  in  their  own  language 
they  had  none  of  its  words.  The  first  attempt  to  give  the  Bible 
to  the  people  in  their  own  tongue  often  took  the  form  of  metrical 
versions  of  the  narrative  portions,  such  as  Genesis  and  the  histor- 


25 

ical  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  especially  the  Gospels.  Of 
this  character  is  the  rhymed  Harmony  of  the  Gospels  in  Low 
Saxon  known  as  Otfried's  Christ.  Such  is  the  Heliand,  a  heroic 
poem  with  a  Gospel  basis,  in  the  same  language,  and  both  be- 
longing probably  to  the  ninth  century.  Such  is  the  Ormulum  in 
our  own  English,  and  the  earlier  paraphrases  of  Caedmon  in 
Anglo-Saxon. 

Illustrating  another  form  of  adaptation  of  the  same  sort  is  the 
Historia  Scholastica  of  Petrus  Comestor.  Written  in  the  year 
1170,  this  work  was  translated  into  many  of  the  European  lan- 
guages, and  was  printed  over  and  over  again  in  the  early  days  of 
the  art.  It  consists  of  a  somewhat  free  use  of  the  Vulgate,  inter- 
spersed with  annotations  from  profane  history  and  with  scholastic 
explanations.  The  French  version  of  this,  made  by  Guyard  des 
Moulins  in  1294,  followed  the  Vulgate  text  more  closely  and 
more  completely,  and  with  some  additions  appeared  in  1477  as 
the  first  printed  French  Bible.  Of  similar  character  was  the 
Aurea  Biblia  of  Rampigollis,  which  was  exceedingly  popular  in 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  The  Golden  Legend  of 
Jacobus  a  Voragine  may  also  be  mentioned  here,  for,  while  it 
contains  many  stories  of  the  saints,  and  much  apocryphal  material 
regarding  Jesus,  it  yet  does  gives  the  Gospel  story. 

3.  It  is  one  of  the  anomalies  of  history  that  the  organized 
body  of  Christ  which  would  seem  to  be  most  interested  in  the 
circulation  of  the  Bible  has  been  most  active  in  its  suppression. 
To  be  sure,  the  censorship  of  the  press  was  no  new  idea.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  making  of  books  there  has  been  the  exercise 
of  the  right  to  forbid  and  to  permit  certain  books.  State  and 
Church,  heathen  emperor,  Mohammedan  caliph,  and  Christian 
bishop  alike  have  destroyed  works  they  considered  harmful  either 
to  the  truth  or  to  their  own  dominion.  When  books  were 
printed  it  needed  but  an  extension  of  this  principle,  vicious 
though  it  was,  in  order  to  bring  forth  the  condemnation  of  coun- 
cil and  Pope,  Parliament  and  King,  the  burning  of  forbidden  edi- 
tions, the  rule  of  censorship  and  the  Index  Prohibitorum.  It  is 
noticeable  that  the  issuance  of  decrees  against  books  really  began 
with  the  printing  of  them.  Perhaps  before  that,  in  the  manu- 
script period,  it  was  easier  to  control  the  matter.    Books  were  few, 


26 

the  copying  of  them  was  laborious,  and  the  number  of  copies  was 
limited.  But  when  the  printing  press  began  to  pour  out  its 
thousands  of  volumes  some  more  vigorous  measure  was  needed. 
Besides,  so  long  as  the  dominion  of  the  Roman  Church  was  not 
in  danger,  she  had  less  fear  of  heretical  books;  but  when  the 
revival  of  learning  and  the  Lutheran  Reformation  threatened  to 
overthrow  that  dominion  she  at  once  used  decisive  means  to 
suppress  all  hostile  publications.  "What  is  surprising  and  will 
always  remain  incapable  of  defense  is  the  fact  that  in  suppressing 
heresy  she  thought  it  necessary  to  suppress  the  Bible.  Berth  old, 
Archbishop  of  Mainz,  the  very  birthplace  of  the  printer's  art, 
was  the  first  to  undertake  the  restriction  of  the  press.  On  Jan- 
uary 10,  1486,  he  prohibited  the  translation  of  books  from  Latin, 
Greek,  or  other  languages,  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  or  their  sale 
when  translated,  except  upon  the  approval  of  certain  doctors  and 
masters  of  the  University  of  Erfurt.  This  edict,  although 
couched  in  general  terms,  was  really  aimed  at  the  German  Bible, 
of  which  several  editions  had  already  appeared.  In  1559  the 
first  official  list  of  prohibited  books  was  issued  by  Pope  Paul  IV, 
In  this,  all  Bibles  in  modern  languages  were  forbidden,  and 
forty-eight  editions  were  particularly  specified,  while  the  general 
clause,  "  and  all  similar  editions,"  was  intended  to  cut  off  all 
vernacular  versions  from  the  faithful. 

From  this  first  Index  down  to  the  present  time  there  has  been 
no  material  change  in  the  policy  of  the  Roman  Church  in  regard 
to  this  matter,  except  where,  as  in  this  country,  the  prevalence 
of  Protestant  sentiment  has  forced  a  modification.  The  Holy 
Office  of  the  Inquisition  has  repeatedly  laid  its  withering  hand 
upon  the  Bible.  Its  last  work  in  Italy  in  the  present  century 
was  to  prevent  if  possible  the  circulation  of  the  Italian  version. 
In  Spain  it  has  been  impossible,  it  is  even  now  not  wholly  safe  in 
all  parts,  to  attempt  to  distribute  a  vernacular  Bible,  while  in 
South  America  the  agents  of  the  Bible  societies  have  repeatedly 
met  with  abuse  and  persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  priests.  It 
would  be  most  interesting  to  trace  the  development  of  the  con- 
demnation of  the  Bible,  and  to  show  how  the  Protestant  schism, 
springing  as  it  did  from  a  study  of  the  Word,  and  supported  as 
it  has  always  been  by  an  appeal  to  the  Word,  has  forced  the 


27 

Roman  Church  into  an  attitude  of  opposition  to  the  free  circula- 
tion of  the  Scriptures. 

We  cannot  forget  in  the  history  of  our  own  English  Bible 
the  names  of  John  Wicliff,  opposed,  threatened,  tried  again  and 
again,  and  only  preserved  by  the  strong  friendship  of  John  of 
Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  and  of  William  Tyndale,  an#exile,  a 
hunted  fugitive,  printing  in  secret,  hurrying  presses  and  printed 
sheets  from  city  to  city  in  order  to  escape  the.  vigilance  of  his 
enemies,  and  at  last  suffering  martyrdom  because  of  his  un- 
quenchable desire  to  give  the  gospel  to  his  nation  in  their  own 
tongue.  Nor  can  we  forget  the  picture  of  Bishop  Tonstall  of 
London  buying  up  the  copies  of  Tyndale's  Testament  in  order  to 
burn  them  publicly,  nor  the  interruption  of  the  printing  of  the 
Great  Bible  in  Paris  by  the  intrigue  of  the  Inquisition  in  spite  of 
the  royal  permission.  The  attitude  of  the  Roman  Church  is 
perhaps  well  set  forth  in  the  words  of  Henry  Knighton,  the 
Canon  of  Leicester,  and  a  bitter  enemy  of  Wicliff.  "  The  Gospel 
which  Christ  committed  to  the  clergy  and  doctors  of  the  Church, 
that  they  might  sweetly  dispense  it  to  the  laity  and  weaker  per- 
sons, according  to  the  exigency  of  the  times  and  the  wants  of  the 
people,  hungering  after  it  in  their  mind,  this  John  Wicliff  has 
translated  out  of  Latin  into  the  Anglican,  not  angelic  language; 
whence  through  him  it  has  been  published  and  disclosed  more 
openly  to  laymen  and  women  able  to  read  than  it  used  to  be  to  the 
most  learned  and  intelligent  of  the  clergy.  And  so  the  gospel 
pearl  is  cast  abroad  and  trodden  underfoot  of  swine;  and  what 
was  dear  to  clergy  and  laity  is  now  rendered,  as  it  were,  the  com- 
mon jest  of  both;  so  that  the  gem  of  the  Church  becomes  the 
derision  of  laymen,  and  that  is  now  theirs  forever,  which  before 
was  the  special  property  of  the  clergy  and  doctors."* 

Inspired,  as  we  believe,  by  a  true  desire  to  promote  the 
truth,  yet  led  into  strangely  mistaken  measures,  the  Roman 
Church  has  consistently,  from  the  beginning,  opposed  giving  the 
Bible  to  the  people  in  the  vernacular.  Not  content  with  with- 
holding the  wine  of  the  sacrament,  she  has  withheld  also  the 
refreshing  water  of  the  revealed  Word.  The  Bible  in  the 
Roman  Church  has  been  a  book  permitted,  not  enjoined,  a  treas- 
ure to  be  guarded,  not  a  spiritual  food  to  be  dispensed. 

*  Quoted  in  the  English  Hexapla,  p.  8. 


28 

We  cannot  pause  to  speak  of  the  vast  literature  in  opposition 
and  defense,  in  explanation  and  criticism,  to  which  the  Bible  has 
given  rise,  nor  of  the  prodigious  expenditure  of  toil  in  its 
study.  These  and  other  interesting  phases  of  our  subject  we 
must  pass  without  further  detail. 

As  we  look  back  now  over  the  path  we  have  come,  are  we  not 
more  firmly  assured  than  ever  that  this  Bible  which  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  our  faith,  which  is  "  the  only  perfect  rule  of  faith 
and  practice  "  is,  even  in  those  external  features  which  are  sub- 
ordinate, shown  to  be  the  Book  of  Books?  In  the  abundance 
and  variety  and  beauty  of  its  manuscripts,  in  the  priority  and 
multiplicity  of  its  printed  editions,  in  the  unique  forms  in  which 
it  has  been  set  forth  and  the  thrilling  incidents  of  which  it  has 
been  the  occasion,  in  the  multitude  of  its  versions  into  strange 
tongues  and  in  the  extent  of  its  distribution  over  all  the  earth,. 
in  the  number  and  range  of  books  to  which  it  has  given  rise,  in 
the  intensity  of  the  opposition  to  it  and  the  unquenchable  zeal 
with  which  its  promoters  have  been  inspired,  in  the  missionary 
activities  it  has  supported  and  the  spiritual  results  flowing  from 
its  bare  circulation,  —  in  all  these  respects  it  is  seen  to  be  pre- 
eminent as  a  book. 

We  have  dwelt  only  on  that  which  is  superficial  in  regard  to 
this  book.  It  is  because  there  is  something  more  than  the  super- 
ficial in  it  that  these  facts  acquire  any  significance  or  interest- 
When  the  Eternal  Word  tabernacled  in  the  flesh  every  utterance 
and  every  deed,  every  look  and  gesture  assumed  a  beauty  and 
glory  derived  from  the  divine  personality  from  which  they 
flowed.  And  so  when  the  divine  revelation  was  made  to  appear 
in  a  human  form,  clothed  in  the  language  of  men,  and  borne  from 
land  to  land  in  the  guise  of  human  books,  then  every  fact  re- 
lating to  that  appearance  and  every  item  of  the  historical  trans- 
mission of  that  word  from  age  to  age  and  from  nation  to  nation 
becomes  of  value  and  worthy  of  the  attention  of  those  who  love 
the  Word  for  what  it  is  and  because  they  hear  through  the  human 
language  the  very  voice  of  God. 

We  in  this  Seminary  taking  our  stand  on  the  Word  seek  to 
comprehend  it  more  fully,  and  to  interpret  it  more  accurately/ 
We  learn  to  distinguish  the  external  and  human  from  the  in- 


29 


ternal  and  divine,  but  both  we  seek  to  know  more  thoroughly, 
that  the  purposes  of  God  through  His  Word  may  be  the  more  per- 
fectly made  known  to  men. 


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